Camper van key
Industrial design from clay mock-up to printed model
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CAD views of the folding Swiss Army knife key concept, with reference planes visible
- Client
- VW Caddy California
- Context
- Industrial Design, DTU
- Year
- 2021
- Role
- Design and CAD
- Team size
- Group 5
- Tools
- Hand sketching · Marker rendering · Clay mock-up · SOLIDWORKS · 3D printing
- Contribution
- Team of 5, hand sketching and CAD modelling
A key for the VW Caddy California, taken from user needs through sketching and clay mock-ups and on to CAD and printed models. Two concepts went forward, one inspired by a Swiss Army knife and one shaped like the van itself, and these were scored on criteria including ergonomics using a Pugh matrix, where the Swiss Army knife concept won on comfort in the hand.
The work
A key for the VW Caddy California, developed from user needs through sketching and clay mock-ups and then on to CAD and printed models. Two concepts were carried forward, one inspired by a Swiss Army knife and one shaped like the van itself, and they were evaluated on criteria including ergonomics using a Pugh matrix. Here the Swiss Army knife concept won on comfort in the hand, which seems to be the criterion that matters most for an object people handle several times a day.
The hard part
Reproducing the intended organic forms in CAD was the hardest part of the project, since a single extruded profile could not hold the shape, however building the shape up in layers worked.
What I did
Developed jointly with a group of 5, and my own work included both the hand sketching and the CAD modelling.
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Graphite sketch of a hand gripping the folding key concept
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CAD views of the second concept, shaped like the van's own silhouette
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Clay mock-up of the folding key concept with button icons for lock, unlock, horn and boot carved into the surface